Although computer networks have become relatively common both in office and in home networking environments, such networks are typically fairly sophisticated and require significant processing power, electrical power, and infrastructure to work well. Some networking applications do not require as robust a network environment, but can benefit from the ability to provide electronic communications between devices.
One such example is the Bluetooth technology that enables a cell phone user to associate and use an earpiece in what is sometimes referred to a personal area network or PAN. Another example is a mesh network, in which a number of devices work together to form a mesh, such that data can be sent from a source device to a destination device via other devices in the mesh network.
Mesh networks are often controlled by a gateway or coordinator device that acts as an interface between the mesh network and the Internet. Many networks such as these are large, comprising tens or hundreds of nodes spread out over a wide area. The gateway device and network nodes in many embodiments are inactive or asleep most of the time, and become active based on a coordinated schedule to perform various operations and communicate with other network nodes.
Further, a variety of node and gateway devices are often employed in complex network installations, including devices from a variety of manufacturers and that perform a variety of different monitoring and control functions. The variety of smart energy, fleet management, medical device networking, and other sensors, controllers, actuators, meters in a network are further often distributed across a wide area, and include geographically remote locations that make centralized control desirable.
Managing and updating gateway and other such devices distributed over large or complex networks such as these is therefore desired.